
Estimated annual Instagram revenue in the U.S. 2020-2025
Instagram as Facebook revenue driver
Initially released in 2010 and quickly acquired by Facebook in 2012 for one billion U.S. dollars, Instagram has been in the public eye since its early days. Instagram’s monthly active users grew from a mere 90 million in January 2013 to over two billion MAU in December 2021 and the platform not showing any signs of slowing down. Apart from ongoing user growth, Instagram is also one of the most popular social media platforms used by marketers worldwide, second only to Facebook.
Despite the rapid growth of Instagram under Facebook’s ownership and cross-platform promotion, not everything has been smooth sailing under the blue flag. In September 2018, founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announced their resignation amidst reports of culture and product clashes between Instagram and its parent company. Facebook was quick to appoint a new CEO, and under former Facebook News Feed product manager Adam Mosseri the social network has been trying to make the most of Instagram’s ad potential. In late June 2019, Instagram launched ads in its Explore section. The platform already allowed ads in the regular feed and Stories.